Spluttery 89 Golf 1.8 issues

does it happen in damp weather more than dry? if so, it's probably ignition...replace the spark plug wires and distributor cap and rotor...that usually cures damp-weather misfiring.

Not unless it's a LOT of oil. Is this a carburetor or fuel injected model?

VW and Audi used this 4+E designation. Has something do to w/the transmission gearing and being designed for fuel economy. Might have also been called "Formel E". The US didn't get this model so I'm kinda reaching into memory of what I dimly remember reading once.

Thanks ill check the sparks etc, it does seem to be more in damp than dry, the first time i had to stop was when it was snowing.

It the carb model and i would say about 10-20 ml of oil on the filter seal, if you were to stand it upright it would run off easily

Hmmm...that does sound like a lot. I'm not familiar with carbed watercooled VWs but if they have any type of thing where the crankcase gases are recirculated (for emissions), that does sometimes bring a little oil into the air intake but it shouldn't be too much. Was it just the one time that you noticed it or was it a repeat occurrence?

well the rocker gasket needs replacing i think cos there's oil leaking from that, so i dont know if thats effecting it,

Ill get out tomorrow to check the sparks after work.

ive only wiped that much off a couple of times the rest of the time it hasnt been that bad but seems to help with the spluttering.

we bought the car 3 months ago out of desperation cheaply so i could get to work. before that i had been stood a long time.

I dimly remember a 75 Scirocco (they were carb'd in Canada) that had an EGR unit, and it tended to drop a _lot_ of oil into the air intake under some circumstances. IIRC, it had something to do with the screen on the inside of the cam cover, where one of the hoses was: under certian pressure conditions, the oil would tend to blow harder, and you'd get liquid instead of atomised oil.

Just because wiping it helps, however, is no indication that's the problem. After all, to wipe it, you open up the air intake (with the engine turned off, I hope). So you've changed something aside from wiping the oil. I suspect it's a coincidence that wiping helps.

well i checked the sparks and distributer, they were all coroded so ive clean them up for now and ill have to get some new onces when i can. Ill see in the next few days because its due to rain..

i think the oil thing might be related to the rocker gasket.

that could help. also the ignition wires don't have to look really bad to be bad. might want to replace those.